My mission is to educate people about what is in our food. Food ingredient labels can be confusing, and hard to figure out what all those ingredients are. No judgements, no suggestions on what to eat, just cold hard facts about what is in our food, what it does. I plan to compile ingredients lists from national food. And find definitions of the ingredients that are hard to say, let alone, figure out what it is exactly.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Caramel Color

There are caramel I, II, III, and IV. Caramel I (Plain Caramel, Caustic Caramel) is obtained by heat treating edible carbohydrates of sugars, hydrolyzed starch, and molasses. Or it can be obtained by treating with acids or alkalis (free of ammonium compounds and sulfites) followed by heat treatment.

Caramel II, (Caustic Sulfite Caramel) is obtained by treating edible carbohydrates of sugars, hydrolyzed starch, and molasses with sulfites (ammonium compount free) followed by heat treatment. Or it can be obtained by treating with sulfites, acids, or alkalis (free of ammonium compounds) followed by heat treatment.

Caramel III (Ammonia Caramel) is obtained by treating edible carbohydrates of sugars, hydrolyzed starch, and molasses with small amount of ammonium compounds, followed by heat treatment. It can be treated with acids or alkalis (free of sulfites) prior to heat treatment.

Caramel IV (Sulfite Ammonia Caramel) is obtained by treating edible carbohydrats of sugars, hydrolyzed starch and molasses with small amount of ammonium compounds and sulfites, followed by heat treatment. It can be treated with acids or alkalis prior to heat treatment.

Caramel coloring acts as an emulsifying agent that keeps flavor oils suspended in a solution. It is made by heating food-grade carbohydrates (such as corn syrup) to high temperatures. Usually an acid such as acetic, lactic or phosphoric acid is added to break the bonds between the sugars as it is heated to caramelization. The result is a burnt sugar that is the world’s most widely consumed (by weight) food coloring ingredient. It is not found only in colas, but also in sauces, gravies and baked goods.

One is called plain caramel.

A second involves reacting the sugar with sulfites.

A third is made be reacting sugars with ammonium compounds.

And in the fourth variety of caramel coloring--the kind used in Coke and Pepsi--sugars are reacted with both ammonium and sulfite compounds.

California public health officials recently placed 4-methylimidazole on the state's list of known carcinogens. Scientists at the University of California at Davis recently found significant levels of 4 methylimidazole in colas that far exceeds what the state considers to be safe. (Caramel IV)